Family, Experience and History

Grant Woods is one of Arizona’s premier attorneys and enjoys a superior reputation as a trial lawyer, a negotiator, and in government relations. He graduated from Occidental College in 1976, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was the 2000 Occidental College Alumnus of the Year. He graduated from Arizona State University College of Law in 1979 and was the 1999 Alumnus of the Year from the law school. He served as the first Congressional Chief of Staff for John McCain of Arizona.

Grant Woods served as Arizona’s Attorney General from 1991-1999. He led the ballot among all candidates in the 1990 and 1994 elections. Mr. Woods was President of the Conference of Western Attorneys General and chaired the Civil Rights and Supreme Court committees for the National Association of Attorneys General. He was selected by his peers as the nation’s top attorney general in 1995. He successfully argued Lewis v. Casey before the United States Supreme Court. He was one of the principal architects of the states’ lawsuits against the tobacco companies and was a key negotiator in the resulting largest civil settlement in history.

Since returning to private practice in 1999, he has won many multi-million dollar verdicts, including successful litigation involving antitrust, fraud, breach of contract, wrongful termination, medical malpractice, and toxic torts. His recent jury verdicts include a 269 million dollar federal verdict on behalf of Meritage Homes (the ninth largest verdict in the country in 2008), 11 million dollars against Arizona Public Service for negligence, a 4.5 million dollar verdict in 2005 against Maricopa County, the largest whistleblower verdict in State history, and a 2 million dollar verdict against American Family Insurance in Colorado Federal Court in 2006. Mr. Woods was appointed as a Special Prosecutor to investigate public corruption in Apache County, resulting in the conviction and removal from office of the Apache County Sheriff. He has also special prosecuted murder cases in Cochise County and Maricopa County in recent years. He has been elected to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Woods also has a successful government relations practice. Current or former clients include Diageo, Wellpoint, Monsanto, Ellman Companies, Phoenix Coyotes, Toyota Motor Company, Trump International, ILX, SBC, Arizona Charter Schools Association, Meritage Homes, American Communications Network, Budget, Ironite Products, Best Western International and SEIU (Service Employees International Union).

Grant Woods is the founder of the Mesa Boys & Girls Club, the Mesa Education Foundation and the Mesa Arts Academy, one of Arizona’s first successful charter schools. The Mesa Boys & Girls Club, one of the largest in the State, is named after Mr. Woods. Grant and Marlene Woods were among the early forces behind the Phoenix Children’s Museum and the Woods family sponsors a permanent construction exhibit there. He has won the top awards from the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, the Salvation Army and the Children’s Action Alliance. Mr. Woods has hosted his own radio talk show on top rated KTAR and KFYI in Phoenix, and has been honored by the Associated Press as Arizona’s top talk show host. He writes a monthly column for Arizona Attorney on legal issues, as well as contributing frequent opinion pieces for the Arizona Republic.

Grant Woods is married to former Fox and CBS news anchor Marlene Galan Woods. They live in Phoenix with their five children: Austin, Lauren, Cole, Dylan, and Ava. Their son Austin is a practicing attorney.